MILAN (AFP) - France's Alexander Levy took a one-shot lead midway through the third round of the weather-hit Italian Open on Saturday (Sept 17) as Britain's Masters champion Danny Willett waited to pounce.

After Thursday and Friday had been affected by rain and thunderstorms, Levy overturned a six-shot deficit on second-round leader Chris Paisley, turning in 29 and adding three pars on the back nine to sit at 14 under after 12 holes when play was suspended due to darkness.

Paisley turned in level par to sit a shot off the lead alongside home hope Francesco Molinari, Willett and his fellow Englishman Chris Hanson.

South Korean Byeong-hun An was at 12 under having completed 13 holes with Sweden's Robert Karlsson and England's Richard Bland who have completed 12 holes.

In all, 30 players are within five shots of the lead ahead of the completion of the third round and the full final round on Sunday.